​Elderly, disabled Philadelphia inmate sets record for being held without trial

A man who was held in Philadelphia’s prison system without trial for seven years – the longest-ever such term in the city’s jails, it is believed – was moved to a nursing home on Monday, two years after he was deemed not competent to stand trial.

Marvae Dunn, 68, was
arrested in April 2007 for shooting his sister-in-law in North
Philadelphia, according to Reuters. Weeks after his arrest, he
suffered a series of strokes that left him unable to walk or
speak.

In May 2012, Dunn was declared unfit to stand trial, court
records say.

“As far as I know, nobody has stayed this long in city
jails,” said Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner, who
ordered Dunn’s transfer.

Lerner said at the time of the order that he would hold
“those responsible” in contempt for Dunn’s lengthy stay
in jail if Dunn was not moved to a psychiatric facility. Yet Dunn
stayed in the city jail system for two more years.

One reason Dunn may have slipped through the cracks, Lerner said,
was the city’s reduction of the number of available beds for
prisoners at psychiatric facilities. In addition, Lerner’s need
for a wheelchair and dialysis likely made finding an adequate
nursing home more difficult.

“I'm not sure how anyone decided he was competent for a
preliminary hearing,” he added.

Philadelphia’s jail system holds over 8,000
inmates awaiting trial or serving sentences of two years or less.
About one in five inmates in city jails have been diagnosed with
mental health issues, according to the Bureau
of Justice Statistics.

Dunn spent the majority of his incarceration in the jail system’s
medical unit, according to Bobby Hoof, Dunn’s defense attorney
since March 2013.

“Most of the people in medical ward have emotional
issues,” Hoof said. “He didn't cause any problems. He
was just there, and everybody knew him.”